Bedford Park, Bronx: Map

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Bedford Park is a residential neighborhood in the northwest Bronx between the New York Botanical Garden

. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Mosholu Parkway to the north, Webster Avenue to the east, East 198th Street to the south, and Jerome Avenue to the west. The Grand Concourse

is the primary thoroughfare through Bedford Park. The local subway is the IND Concourse Line, operating along the Grand Concourse. Zip codes include 10458 and 10468. The area is patrolled by the 52nd Precinct located at 3016 Webster Ave in the Norwood

section of the Bronx

History

The area now known as Bedford Park was mostly farmland outside the town of Kingsbridge, then an unincorporated suburb of New York City. The area began to be developed with the construction of the Jerome Park Racecourse, for thoroughbred horse racing, by Leonard Jerome and August Belmont, Sr. in 1866. Jerome Park Racecourse became the first home of the famous Belmont Stakes horse race, until 1890. To attract the wealthy to the racecourse, Leonard Jerome built what is today Jerome Avenue. In 1874 the town of Kingsbridge was officially incorporated into New York City.

In 1890, Jerome Park Racecourse was sold. Construction was started to convert it into the Jerome Park Reservoir, to store fresh water from the New Croton Aqueduct. At the same time, the neighborhood of Bedford Park was beginning to take shape. Forty "villas" (suburban houses) were built on a stretch, in a planned community, named Villa Avenue.

The area became a part of the newly created Borough of the Bronx in 1898. The Italian and Irish immigrants who worked on the Jerome Park Reservoir project soon anchored the community there. In 1906, 200th Street was renamed Bedford Park Boulevard, likely named after Edward Thomas Bedford, a director of Standard Oil, president of the Bank of the State of New York, who was an associate of Leonard Jerome.

Development continued with the completion of the Grand Concourse

, a multilane thoroughfare, in 1914; and the extension of subway to the area with the IRT Jerome Avenue Line in 1917. The Grand Concourse

saw a boom in housing construction in the post-World War I era. Much of this was from middle-class (primarily Jews, Italians, and Irish) moving from Manhattan

Land use and terrain

Bedford Park is dominated by 5 or 6-story tenements and three-story Victorian houses. The apartments on the Grand Concourse are often taller. Tracey Towers are two 41-story subsidized apartment buildings built close to the Jerome Park Reservoir. Designed by noted architect Paul Rudolph, they were completed in 1972 as a part of New York City's Mitchell Lama housing development initiative. The total land area is a little less than half a square mile.

Demographics

In the United States 2000 Census of 2000, the area of Bedford Park comprises five tracts. These five tracts have a population of 24,874.

The racial makeup of the neighborhood is 60.67% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race, 13.5%, African American, 17.07% White, and 8.76% from other races including Korean, and Indian

Landmarks

Houses of worship

Church of St. Philip Neri

Bedford Park's oldest buildings are its churches and other religious institutions. The oldest church in the area, Bedford Park Congregational Church at the corner of Bainbridge Avenue and East 201st Street, dates to 1882. Its American Queen Anne-style design hints at Bedford Park's origins as a small rural community. It was designated a City Landmark in 2000. (New York City Landmarks Commission 2005)

On the Grand Concourse lies the Roman Catholic Church of St. Philip Neri. The church was dedicated to the Italian saint due to its origin as a mission church for immigrant Italian laborers, who also worked on the construction of the Jerome Park Reservoir. The corner stone of the church (dated 1889) was in fact quarried from what became Jerome Park Reservoir, and brought there by a horse-drawn carriage. (Greene 2002)

The Convent of Mount St. Ursula is located on Bedford Park Boulevard. It was established by a group of Roman Catholic nuns from the Ursuline order in 1892. The Academy of Mt. St. Ursula, an all-girls prep-school, is located there today. It recently celebrated its 150th anniversary with the class of 2005.

The Educational Mile

Since 1892, the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula has been located at Bedford Park and Bainbridge Avenue. The academy is now the oldest, all female Catholic school in New York state. In the 1930s, unclaimed land near the Jerome Park Reservoir offered opportunities for New Deal-related construction to alleviate unemployment from the Great Depression. Three high schools (Walton, DeWitt Clinton, and the Bronx High School of Science

) were built, along with the Bronx campus of Hunter College

(now Lehman College

). After end of World War II, in 1946 Hunter College's Bronx Campus served briefly as host of the United Nations. Currently, two of the nine specialized high schools in New York City are in the area, which includes Bronx High School of Science

and the High School of American Studies at Lehman College. There was also a small private high school Bedford Park Academy.

Movie industry in the neighborhood

In the 1940s, at the address of 248, 200th street which is Bedford Park Blvd. was the home of some of the motion picture industries famous actors and actresses. They would be on call for appeaances at the Edison studio on Decatur Ave. between Oliver place and 199th St. A call would be made to the actor at the above address and a limo or cab would be sent around to pick them up and drop them off at the studio. One of the pictures made was with Ava Gardner others like St. Benny the Dip with Dick Haymes, Rollan Young, Lionel Stander, Nina Foch and Freddie Bartholomew. Ehtel Waters played in a tv series named Beulah in 1950, Later in the 50s, Ralph Bellamy starred in the drama Man Against Crime on the Dumont Television Network; the program lasted until 1956. In the 60s a program named the hunter aired it was also filmed locally. It was great for a kid growing up there to meet the actors and watch the productions.

Lehman College

was originally Hunter College

's uptown campus. The Works Progress Administration built the original four buildings of the campus in grey stone in the Collegiate Gothic style, with finials, turrets, and other decorative features. Additional buildings, including the Lehman Library and Center for the Performing Arts, were added in the style of modern architecture. The newest building, the APEX, has facilities for athletics and dance. The scenic campus, which spans into Kingsbridge

, has been used as a shooting location for episodes of the television series Law & Order and its spin-offs.

Culture

Reflecting a population so greatly composed of foreign-born immigrants, there are distinct ethnic enclaves in Bedford Park. On 204th Street, between the Grand Concourse

and Mosholu Parkway lies a small cluster of Korean restaurants, groceries, social clubs, and other businesses.

Bedford Park's ethnic diversity manifests itself in an assortment of ways besides the formation of enclaves. Among the national symbols one may see strolling the neighborhood include the double-headed eagle (the emblem of Albania), the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe

(sacred to Catholic Mexicans), the shamrock of Ireland, the Arabic calligraphy of the shahadah (the Muslim profession of faith), or the coquí of Puerto Rico. A vast assortment of newspapers are sold in local convenience stores, including The Echo of Ireland, Albanian-language Bota Sot of Kosovo

, and the Spanish-language local newspapers El Diario/La Prensa, and El Hoy.

Residents of Bedford Park appreciate their quality of life. The neighborhood's accessibility, coupled with affordable housing, diversity and a strong sense of community, makes this Bedford Park a popular destination for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle.